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Information Technology United Kingdom

Customisable software to support self-evaluation of teachers as part of schools’ inspection regime in Scotland

Executive Summary

Challenge: Pulsion Technology undertook the time-sensitive task of designing and delivering fully-operational software solution utilised within Scottish schools to support self-evaluation of teachers.

Approach: Our team took responsibility for the full project lifecycle. Through research and iterative development, we ensured the app’s accessibility on mobile devices. To guarantee on-time and on-budget delivery, we followed the agile framework throughout the project.

Result: The result of our work is EVA – a customisable software supporting self-evaluation as part of the school’s inspection regime in Scotland. We have also provided the client with a webpage, which gives access to a suite of comprehensive reports.

Table of Contents

About the client

Pulsion Technology has established itself as a leading digital partner to an extensive list of clients across public, private and third sector organisations.

Partnerships with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft ensures the company is able to offer the best technology solution for their clients’ requirements.

Founded in 1995 in Glasgow, the Pulsion team has extensive experience in cloud migration, custom software development, mobile app development and artificial intelligence solutions.

What the client needed

Pulsion initially approached us to deliver a software solution that would be utilised within Scottish schools and it was very time-sensitive. The client needed an adequate, cost-effective resource to enable them to respond to their customer demand.

To make sure that we fully understood the client’s needs, our team spent a few days at Pulsion’s office, discussing the requirements. We presented the mocks prepared by our User Experience engineers.

We were looking for a partner with suitable skills and experience. Choosing Future Processing has definitely been a good choice. Not only did we get the desired outcome for the projects but, also, we found a company with a unique philosophy and values which fit our culture.

Keri McCool
Sales & Marketing Manager, Pulsion

Scope of work

We were responsible for the full project lifecycle, starting from engineering, through design and user experience, to the delivery:

  • UX Design
  • Scrum Master
  • Design
  • Quality Assurance
  • Technical Consultancy

Results of the partnership

The result of our work is EVA – customisable software supporting self-evaluation as part of the school’s inspection regime in Scotland. The evaluation process includes input from parents and teachers. We have also provided the client with a webpage, where a suite of reports can be accessed.

We’ve developed a new product and managed to do that on-time and on-budget, allowing the client to meet their obligations.

We were responsible for delivering the entire solution and we offered a whole variety of skills including graphic design and UX. All this reduced the burden on the client from an internal resource perspective.

Working with us allows Pulsion to take on more projects, supporting their growth and aspirations of competitive advantage.

Pulsion_screen

We delivered value in a very short time. Being able to – within three, two-week sprints – create a working product that met Pulsion’s requirements and was ready to enter the market was greatly appreciated by our client.

Future Processing delivered high-quality products that are very user-friendly. We know that now, both through our own in-house team and through our partnership with Future Processing, we have the necessary skills and resources to deliver what is required.

Keri McCool
Sales & Marketing Manager, Pulsion

User Experience-based approach

Our UX and design teams worked closely with the client and conducted an internal analysis of the specifications and extensive research and benchmarking in order to understand Pulsion’s requirements.

Our teams needed to design a survey creation and management tool for people related to the educational system in Scotland that will support gathering data and feedback. They created a relationship with the client based on openness and communication.

The team received constant feedback and was included in the iterative development process. We worked on mocks to better understand the application GUI. We also kept in mind that the tool had to be accessible for survey creators and respondents also on mobile devices.

After the prototype was done, our teams applied Guerillla usability testing, Rapid Iterative Testing, evaluation with the development team and design workshops with stakeholders in Scotland.

We also had to decide on colours, a very important aspect of the interface. Our choice was to use blue to mark the important fields, yellow for key functions and grey on the background. As far as the logo was concerned, the first thing to do was to decide which elements will build a brand on the interface.

Future Processing treats clients as individuals, tailoring its approach based on their requirements. We appreciate their openness towards us and their passion to deliver the best possible product. Future Processing has a team of professionals skilled in their fields. Communication with them was easy.

Keri McCool
Sales & Marketing Manager, Pulsion

Beyond software development

Since the product had to be built from scratch, the team had to prepare a solid foundation.

Our project was entirely based on an Agile framework and the whole process was supervised by a Scrum Master, appointed by Future Processing, and the team was supported by an Agile Coach.

With regard to technical matters, the team could count on our Technical Expertise team and a Technical Advisor.

Key success factors

The true reason for the project’s success was the openness and close collaboration – team members supported, motivated and also exchanged constructive criticism, looking for ways to improve working together.

This helped us achieve the common goal which was reaching the right balance between delivering the functionality to the client within a specified time and technical perfection sought by software engineers.

This proved that value can be delivered in a relatively short time, given an optimum working relationship with the client.

Technologies used in the project